Blood Rejuvenation Therapy

Will Rich Old Men Soon Be Stealing Your Blood?

When injected with the protein -- or after a blood transfusion -- these older mice were navigating mazes faster and running longer on treadmills, easily outperforming their peers.

This story sounds like the plot of a yet-to-be-written horror movie, a story about a group of older men who create a real-life fountain of youth. But in this fictional film, the fountain wouldn't be filled with some magical elixir, but instead the blood of younger men.

I know what you're saying — what?!

Well according to a new trio of studies performed on mice, that very well may be where we're headed. In the study, the blood of younger mice was found to be incredibly beneficial to the older mice, showing dramatic improvements in the elder mice’s muscles and brains. After just four weeks, stem cells in both those areas had an enormous boost of activity. Researchers attribute the positive effects to a special protein found in young blood. When injected with the protein — or after a blood transfusion — these older mice were navigating mazes faster and running longer on treadmills, easily outperforming their peers.

So, will it work on humans? The jury is still out. But Tony Wyss-Coray, a neuroscientist out of Stanford, hopes to have a definitive answer before long. His new startup company, Alkahest, is planning the first human young-blood trial later this year. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease will be given young blood, with researchers measuring their cognitive condition before and after. The furry friends used in the aforementioned studies were all the mice equivalent of humans in their 20s, so that'll be the age range Wyss-Coray tests with.

But prior to the human testing results, how many unfathomably rich elderly people could you envision wanting to take advantage of this restorative procedure? Will the baby boomer generation — now older and slower — try to fend off Father Time by using vampire-like tactics, stealing the blood of vibrant millennials?

Either way, there's no doubt in my mind that countless older men and women will be watching this situation as it develops all too closely, and if you happen to be one of those people, I can't blame you. Alzheimer's disease is really terrifying. All joking aside, if Wyss-Coray's impending study shows improvements in Alzheimer's patients, that's invaluable. It's not only those directly stricken with the disease who suffer, but also, to a degree, everyone else in their lives. It's truly sad.

So as far as this mice testing also being effective in humans, personally, my fingers are crossed.